Reviews by FleeVT:

The pour is perfection. Golden edges that meld into a faint honey orange center with a soft, cloud-like white cap. There is the slightest of haze in this beer. Nose is citrus, predominately grapefruit, pineapple, and some pine. A touch of alcohol is present, as well. Great balance of citrus hops and malt backbone on the palate. The hops present themselves up front then give way to bready malts. A welcome bitterness returns in the finish. Mouthfeel is silky smooth, punchy, and crisp all at once.

Worth all of the hype and wish I had access to more in South Florida. I don't know how they do it, but everything is in perfect balance from flavor-profile to mouthfeel.

More User Reviews:

Poured from a bottle into a pint glass. First time with this beer and I'm really stoked. Expectations can't possibly be met.

Poured lighter than expected for a double, but glassy and beautiful. Slight pale head.

Smells are what you would expect from the style. Very fresh smelling. Hops with more hops. Again, very fresh smelling.

The nose didn't lie. This isn't an overly citrus nor an overly piney hop bomb. It is what occurs when everything is balanced. Nothing jumps out and blows you up. It's just a very easy drinking, beautiful hoppy lovefest. The thing that separates this beer from its imitators and competitors is that you really want to drink the hell out of it, not just taste it over and over because it's good.

Mouthful is nice, not too resiny, and malt is clean and fresh. As soon as you swallow it, your mouth needs a refill. Just balance.

Somehow the hype matched the eexperience. In all facets of life, that's rare. By as many of these as you can and share with friends. Wow.

One of the best labels in the world and a great wake-up call for overzealous über beer geeks who feel the need to age any and all beers. "Drink fresh, do not age! Pliny the Elder is a historical figure, don't make the beer inside this bottle one ... Age your cheese, not your Pliny ... Pliny is for savoring, not for saving!" Love it. "Respect hops, consume fresh!"

Light honey amber in color, topped with a big, fluffy, creamy white head with a ton of glass stickage. Massive ripe pineapple aroma in the nose, with pine, mint, sappy resins, powdery pale malts and a hint of alcohol. Silky smooth, medium bodied, with a very firm consistency and slightly chewy back. Hop presence is artfully chaotic. Nice prickly stab on the palate up front, semisharp bitterness, grassy, zesty grapefruit, deep smacking of ripe pineapple and pine. Juicy fruitiness, notes of apple and pear too. Dry middle with suggestions of chalky aspirin. Bready malts, soft and sweet, provide a nice backboard for the hops. Oily and ashy hop resins stick to the palate and follow through into a dry, bitter linger. Alcohol becomes sentient as the beer warms, speaking to us in tongues. And despite this, remains insanely drinkable.

NOTE: If you are drinking this beer about 2 months past its freshness date then you are not getting the full experience.

500ml brown bottle with a bottled on freshness date.

Mildly hazed orange golden color, solid two fingers of head leave a nice crowning of sticky lace that leaves thick rings on the glass. Big hop aroma of evergreen, clementine rind, pineapple and fresh cut grass. Super smooth with a modest amount of carbonation. Prickly spicy hop bitterness with citric, mint and wild flower flavors that linger far into the aftertaste. Hint of nutty yeast and a big handful of biscuity malt are thrown at the palate and actually shows that this beer has balance. Full bursting orange grove flavor. The 8.0% stays hidden for the most part yet does yield a slow warmth about half way through the pint, a bit of ripe tropical fruitiness within from the esters. Finishes with that long drawn out hop bitterness and flavor as it leans towards the dry side.

Epic, a deserving epic as well even with all of the hype surrounding PTY. Pliny The Elder is the poster-boy for Double IPAs. Every hophead needs to put this on their must try list.

Popped open a bottle and poured into a chilled stein ... Big shout out to Neil at Red Carpet in Rancho Cucamonga for providing a bottle out of his personal stash!

A: 3.75 - Deep golden hue with almost no head on a slow pour, very thin and dark cream colored. Has an appearance of a typical adjunct lager. Lacing is insane, dense foam clings to the side of the glass.

S: 5 - BIG grapefruit, citrus and floral notes smack you in the nose, trailed by a dense, woody pine backdrop. I'm also detecting some dried fruit like cherries, peaches and figs. The fruitiness of this beer is VERY assertive.

T: 4.75 - The taste follows the smell, with a burst of citrus fruits, dried peaches, and deep pine notes. There is also a strong malty backbone with this one that keeps it from being overpowered by its intense hoppiness. The aftertaste is of strong bitterness from the hops that lingers for an eternity. It might be too much for the uninitiated, bit for hop-heads, it might be paradise.

Overall - 4.75: All in all, this is my second divine experience tasting a Russian River offering. Normally, I'm not an IPA fan, but the fruity blend of hops here is so excellent - it's perfectly balanced with strong, sweet malt that keeps the aggressive hop flavor in check. The aftertaste was a bit strong, but that was easily remedied with another sip. The worst part of this beer is that it will be gone soon and I'll have to wait until I can reserve another!

Appearance - This came out a hazy, beautiful orange in color with a big, hefty white head.

Smell - This fella has a monster hop profile. The Pliny is piney, that's for sure. There actually seems to be a couple variations of pine smell in here along with some strong floral notes that carry that raw "off the vine" hop fragrance. The citrus hops are rich and sweetish.

Besides all that, this puppy has a huge malt profile. They aren't really toasted at all but have more of a caramel character. All and all this thing is packing quite a wallop!

Taste - This is a big, bountiful DIPA, full of all the delicious flavors from the aroma. All of the hops work in harmony to provide an amazing hop experience with every sip. The malts don't let up for a minute, either. The thick, caramel malts remind me of the 90 Minute. Everything is big yet very well balanced, in a massive hop-head kind of way.

Mouthfeel - This is big but I'd still call it medium-bodied. It is slickly smooth in the cheeks and dangerously easy to drink.

Drinkability - This goes down like none other. The Younger is bigger but doesn't go down as easy as this. At 8.0 ABV I'm sure this has snuck up on many a Russian River patron over the years.

Update - I first reviewed this in 2006 and had a chance to sample it from the bottle again in 2010. It is raw this year and has a monstrous pine aroma. The flavor will cause the uninitiated to dial 911. As massive as the hops are in this beer, to me, still as I said four years ago, it is the malt backbone that separates this man from the boys. I've seen a few examples like this of hop overkill, but this is the only really big monster hop beer that tries to be a true, complete, well-rounded beer if you know what I mean. Most won't even notice the malt base as this one is so hoppy, but it's that almost unnoticeable malt backbone that completes the package.

Pours from the bottle a clear golden apricot with two fingers of white head. It reduces to foam, leaving heavy lacing. Loads of citrus, tropical fruits and pine in the aroma. There's plenty of piney hops, but it's nicely balanced with grapefruit, mango and pineapple. There's enough malt to give it a nice creaminess. Medium mouth with a touch of lingering bitterness. This certainly lives up to its reputation. Being Valentine's Day, it reminds me of my wife: Close to perfection and better than I deserve.

Appearance: a yellow to dull golden color. Fairly good clarity but some slight haze to it. A finger of a frothy head that hardly fades at all and leaves a huge lacing on the sides. A damn good looking dipa

Smell: pine, citrus, herbal. Lots of hops but a fairly generous amount of sweet and lighter crystal malts to it. The malts are just a touch too sweet for me.

Taste: opens up with a good dose of sweet crystal malts. Backend is full of hops. Pine is first, then comes herbal and some floral. Some citrus. A bit of bitter resiny hops.

This beer is like giving a grapefruit permission to discharge in your mouth. I always tried to deny that I liked grapefruit, but this beer helped me come out of the closet.

I love this beer and I purposefully bring different friends to the store every Tuesday (delivery day) so that they can buy the maximum amount that is allowed per visit (2). Then once the closing clerk is on the clock, I tell my wife that I'll bring her to dinner if she'll come in and buy separately buy her 2 Pliny's (they only allow 3 Pliny's to be sold per group).

On a good week, I enjoy 8 Pliny's. On a better week, I go to the bar 1-2x's and help them sell it out in the first 1-2 days that it's delivered.

Yes, I know that I have a problem. At least I get to enjoy my problem more than you.

Flavor: Huge rush of pineapple and grapefruit character right out of the gate. There is a bit of orange slice sweetness in the background that lends a cool counterpoint. I think this light sweetness makes it drinkable and incredibly tasty so the hops have something to work with. Balance is to the wonderfully bitter and flavorful hops. Finish is bone dry. Aftertaste is lingering and powdery bitterness.

Mouthfeel: Light bodied, moderately high carbonation, and slightly oily. No heat or astringency.

Overall impression: A wonderful treat. Definitely worth the hype. Will seek out and have again.

Finally....finally I have a bottle of this beer.Bottled on 2/17/11,fresh as well.Poured into an imperial nonic a rich burnt orange tinged golden with a large blooming white that left broken chunks of lace behind as it settled into a frothy mass.Much lighter aromas than expected,resin and grapefruit mixed with a firm dryer malt base,a little iron is in there as well.Resiny and bitter flavors are the main component flavor-wise,again the malt base is dry wich is good with way to many of the style to sweet.The alcohol is incredibly well hidden mainly because the sweetness is in check,its a very good beer but I gotta say I have had better of the style.While I like Hopslam,Dreadnaught,Oracle,and Hercules better, its a good beer,worth the rating?....Not so sure.

I had two on tap in Philly. Very excited when the waitress mentioned it, because like many, I thought I might never get to taste it. This beer has a golden-red, rather clear hue. A small white head. An amazing citrus smell that you know is gonna taste good, just from one sniff. Taste is very crisp, refreshing, and citrusy. Grapefruit mostly, with medium body. Could drink a lot of these in a single sitting. I still give an edge to Gandhi Bot as slightly better tasting, because as a local, I have my biases =), but I liked Pliny so much, I thought I would add to the chorus of complimentary reviews. Worth the hype in my opinion, of course I was lucky and didn't have to wait in a line or trade to get a taste, very fortunate on my part. Right bar, right time.

On tap at Toronado. Bright amber orange with a full white head. Head lasts well for an IPA. Body is medium to full with intermittent carbonation attacks. Aroma comes on complexly featuring an appealing amount of pineapple on top of a subtle pine/juniper base. By far, however, the pine is overshadowed by citrus juice, peaches, and grapefruit. The aroma could be described as candy like if it didnt trigger receptors in your brain that say: Warning Hop Blast Acomin! Feels tangy and acidic with a citrus medley blast of lime, lemon, grapefruit, and nectarine. Perfectly balanced (for the style) with a sweet malt base and only residual pine oils in the flavor. More delicate then expected. My tongue is not destroyed after two glasses. I guess that makes this one a drinker.

This was the perfect double I.P.A., no question about it. The beer pours a hazy golden color with not much head. I found it to have more carbonation that some of the other double I.P.A.'s I've had. Pliny gives off an incredible aroma of pine with barely a hint of fruit. It was a little too cold for our first few tastes so the hop explosion was very intense, but as the beer dropped in temperature you could taste every element to this beer perfectly. An initial hop explosion that leaves a citrus, grapefruit, taste lingering behind with absolutely no undesirable aftertaste. The only thing that I can find wrong with this beer is that it is incredibly difficult to find. Places were sold out of it or had limited quantities. If you are ever on the west coast, this beer is a must!